By Yang Jingzhong and Jiang Shan
PORT VILA, VANUATU, July 24 (ChinaMil) -- The Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark (Hull 866), which is on the “Harmonious Mission 2018,” arrived at Port Vila on July 23 and began an eight-day friendly visit to Vanuatu, during which it will provide humanitarian medical services.
This is Peace Ark’s second visit to Vanuatu after its first successful visit in 2014.
Prime Minister of Vanuatu Charlot Salwai and some senior Vanuatu officials including the minister of interior ministry, the foreign minister, the minister of health, the general superintendent of police, and the acting commander of mobile forces, greeted the visiting Chinese ship and held a grand welcoming ceremony at the wharf.
In the welcoming speech, Salwai expressed his warm welcome and sincere gratitude to the Chinese government for re-sending the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark to Vanuatu. He said that the Peace Ark's visit on the occasion of Vanuatu Independence Day and its celebration of the holiday with the people of Vanuatu all demonstrated the friendship between the two countries.
The mission commander of the “Harmonious Mission - 2018” of China said that Peace Ark was a symbol of friendship between the peoples of China and Vanuatu. "Today’s meeting is just like an reunion of relatives, and it will further deepen mutual understanding, expand exchanges and cooperation, enhance the two peoples’ senses of participation, gain, and happiness in developing bilateral relations, and make greater contributions to deepening the strategic partnership of mutual respect and common development between the two countries," he said.
During the visit, the Peace Ark will also send several medical teams to local hospitals, villages, and communities to conduct itinerant medical visits and work with medical staff of Vanuatu to carry out joint medical diagnoses, treatments and surgeries, and provide health services.
